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OLEANNA

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Program Magazine

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Oleanna

Cast Biographies

Bill Pullman | Oleanna

Bill Pullman

John

started acting professionally in New York theatre in 1983, and shortly after began his film career which currently spans nearly 50 features. His films include Ruthless People, Spaceballs, Casper, The Serpent and the Rainbow, The Accidental Tourist, Igby Goes Down, Sleepless in Seattle, While You Were Sleeping, Independence Day, Malice, The Virginian, Wyatt Earp, The Last Seduction, Lost Highway, The Zero Effect, The Grudge. Recent films he has completed include Bottle Shock, Phoebe in Wonderland, Surveillance, You Kill Me, The Nobel Son and Your Name Here. Theatre credits include the world premiere of Edward Albee’s The Goat or, Who is Sylvia? (Drama Desk nomination) and Albee’s most recent production Peter and Jerry (Drama Desk nomination), as well as new plays by Beth Henley and Thomas Babe. Bill directed for the TV series Night Visions, and directed and produced the TNT movie The Virginian (Wrangler Award/Best Picture, 2000). He also starred in a television mini-series for NBC Revelations. Bill has been an “Ambassador” for the MS Society since 1998 and serves on the board of Cornerstone Theater Company. Bill received a BA from the State University College at Oneonta, and an MFA in Theater Directing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst.

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Julia Stiles | Oleanna

Julia Stiles

Carol

originally appeared in Oleanna opposite Aaron Eckhart at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End in 2004. She began her career as a member of the Ridge Theater Company, performing at N.Y.’s La Mama and The Kitchen. Other stage credits include Viola in Twelfth Night for the Public Theater, and opposite Mia Farrow in James Lapine’s Fran’s Bed at Playwrights Horizons. Stiles first worked with David Mamet in his film State and Main, as well as in the film adaptation of Mamet’s play Edmond. Stiles earned critical praise starring in Patrick Stettner’s independent feature, The Business of Strangers, opposite Stockard Channing. The film premiered at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival. She has starred in three Shakespearean film adaptations: O, Hamlet and Ten Things I Hate About You, for which she earned a 2000 MTV Movie Award for Best Female Breakthrough Performance and the Chicago Film Critics Award for Most Promising Actress. She reprised her role as Nicky in Paul Greengrass’ The Bourne Ultimatum, the last installment of The Bourne trilogy. Other films include The Omen, A Guy Thing, Mona Lisa Smile, Little Trip To Heaven and Save The Last Dance. Stiles wrote and directed her first short film Raving, starring Zooey Deschanel and Bill Irwin. She graduated from Columbia University in 2005.

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Credits

David Mamet

Playwright

Mr. Mamet is the author of various plays and screenplays, and has directed 10 films. He is a founding member of the Atlantic Theater Company, and the author of the bestselling Bambi vs. Godzilla — On the Nature, Purpose, and Practice of the Movie Business; The Wicked Son; 3 Uses of the Knife; and True and False — Heresy and Common Sense for the Actor. His book of cartoons, Tested on Orphans, is available at www.sfelectricworks.com.
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Doug Hughes

Director

is delighted to be making his debut at the Mark Taper Forum. Recent Broadway productions include A Man for All Seasons, Mauritius, Inherit the Wind, A Touch of the Poet, Frozen and Doubt (also seen at the Ahmanson Theatre at the start of its national tour). He has worked extensively off-Broadway and at most of the nation’s leading resident theatres. He has been awarded the Tony, the Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, Obie and Callaway Awards for his productions. 

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Neil Patel

Set Designer

CTG: This Beautiful City, Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, iWitness. Broadway: [title of show], Sideman (West End and Kennedy Center), ‘night, Mother, Ring of Fire. West End: Underneath the Lintel. Off-Broadway: Dinner With Friends (Variety Arts Theater and national tour), Roundabout, Public, MTC, Playwrights Horizons, Second Stage, Vineyard Theatre, NYTW, Primary Stages, MCC, BAM. Opera: New York City Opera, Santa Fe Opera, Minnesota Opera, Boston Lyric Opera, Florida Grand Opera, Opera Theatre St. Louis, Tokyo Nikikai Opera Theatre. TV: In Treatment (HBO). Helen Hayes Award, numerous Drama Desk nominations, 1996 and 2001 Obie Awards for sustained excellence. www.neilpateldesign.com.
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Catherine Zuber

Costume Designer

The 125 Gala for the Metropolitan Opera, Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (Lincoln Center), The Cherry Orchard (Mark Taper Forum), The Winter’s Tale (BAM’s Bridge Project). The Lincoln Center Theater: South Pacific (Tony Award), The Coast of Utopia (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award), Awake and Sing! (Tony Award), Edward Albee’s Seascape (Tony Award nomination), The Light in the Piazza (Tony Award, Outer Critics Circle Award nomination), Dinner at Eight, Twelfth Night (Tony Award nominations). Other Broadway credits include Roundabout’s A Man for All Seasons, Cry-Baby, Doubt, Frozen, Dracula, The Sound of Music, Triumph of Love, among others. Recipient: 2003, 2004 and 2007 Henry Hewes Award for Design; 2004 and 2005 Lucille Lortel Award; 2004 Ovation Award; 1997 and 2005 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement. Other projects include the 1999 Fete des Vignerons, Vevey, Switzerland. Opera: Romeo et Juliette (Salzburg Festival); Il Barbiere di Siviglia, Dr. Atomic and The Tales of Hoffmann (The Metropolitan Opera).
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Donald Holder

Lighting Designer

Broadway: 30 productions, including South Pacific (2008 Tony Award, Drama Desk nomination), Les Liaisons Dangereuses, A Streetcar Named Desire, Gem of the Ocean, Movin’ Out, Juan Darien (all Tony-nominated), The Lion King (Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle Awards), Cyrano de Bergerac, Radio Golf, Thoroughly Modern Millie and The Boy From Oz. Recent Off-Broadway: The Marriage of Bette and Boo, Romantic Poetry, Saved, Almost an Evening, The Pain and the Itch, Romeo and Juliet (Delacorte). Regional Theatre: Center Stage, Steppenwolf, Goodman, Arena Stage, South Coast Repertory, Huntington, Seattle Rep, Intiman, Williamstown, Old Globe, La Jolla Playhouse, many others. Mark Taper Forum/Kirk Douglas Theatre: Pippin, The Little Dog Laughed, The House of Blue Leaves, Jitney, Hughie, Spunk, Yellow Face, Without Walls,
Glimmer, Glimmer and Shine, many others. LA Opera: Grendel.
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Rick Sordelet

Fight Director

has staged 45 Broadway
productions, including Disney’s The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast, Tarzan, The Little Mermaid and Aida. Soon the upcoming Addams Family. He has staged the fights for the opera Cyrano de Bergerac starring Placido Domingo at the Metropolitan Opera, The Royal Opera House and the LaScala in Milan, Italy, and for over 45 first class productions on five continents. Film: The Game Plan starring Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, Dan in Real Life starring Steve Carell and Juliette Binoche and Hamlet starring Campbell Scott. He is the chief stunt coordinator for Guiding Light and staged the fights for First Jedi, a CD-ROM for George Lucas. Rick received the Lucille Lortel Award for Sustained Excellence. He teaches at Yale School of Drama, The New School for Drama and The Neighborhood Playhouse. He is a company member of The Drama Dept., a board member of The Shakespeare Theatre of New Jersey and the author of the play Buried Treasure. He is married to actress Kathleen Kelly and has three children: Kaelan, Christian and Collin.

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